“Yesterday was a tough day for Julian Alaphilippe”: Julien Bernard reveals inner turmoil in French camp at Kigali 2025

As the 2025 UCI Road World Championships men's elite road race surged into its punishing early kilometres through the narrow, cobbled streets of Kigali, there was one team seemingly determined to ignite chaos from the gun: France.

Julien Bernard was at the centre of it. He made the day’s early break after a furious flurry of attacks from the French squad, but by the time he spoke to reporters later in the morning, his race was already over — a victim of effort expended, and, more quietly, of a team riding through difficult internal circumstances. “Yesterday was a tough day for Julian Alaphilippe,” Bernard admitted to Cycling Pro Net post-race, with a nod to the pre-race drama that would culminate in the two-time world champion abandoning the race just 20 minutes in. “It was tough for Louis Barre as well. So we already knew we were a couple of bullets down before we even started.”

That knowledge didn’t stop the French team from launching an all-out assault in the opening phase. Within the first 20 kilometres, Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Paul Seixas had both tested the waters, and Alaphilippe — ever the showman — had launched a short-lived, flamboyant attack that hinted he may have been masking his condition.

By kilometre 22, Alaphilippe had climbed off his bike and stepped into the team car. The briefest of gestures, but one that spoke volumes. “He wasn’t designated as our leader for this race — Pavel Sivakov was always our guy,” Bernard clarified. “But still, having Julian’s experience in a race like this… not having that in the finale really hurt us.”

Despite knowing their depth was compromised, France pushed on with a clear early strategy: make the race hard, make it messy, and see what sticks. “We wanted a race of movement from the start,” Bernard explained. “A race where the break would take time to form. We wanted it to be aggressive, to keep the tension high. The peloton shut things down quickly, but I found a gap and managed to get across to the front.”

It was a massive effort — one that cost him dearly on the relentless Rwandan terrain, where altitude, humidity, and short, brutal climbs conspire to magnify every pedal stroke. Bernard’s plan was to take enough time to manage the key ascents, most notably Mont Kigali, but the gap never materialised. “I hoped we’d get more of a lead so I could manage my effort on Mont Kigali and the final wall. But the margin wasn’t there. I had to push hard before the climb and got caught at the top. For me, the race was over this morning.”

If Bernard’s race ended early, it wasn’t without its moment of glory. As the breakaway led the peloton through the thick crowds surrounding Kigali’s street circuit, the Frenchman was at the front of the world’s biggest cycling stage.

“It gave me goosebumps,” he said, visibly moved. “There was a moment in one of the descents — just a straight stretch — where it felt like a sea of people on either side. It’s one of those memories you’ll carry forever.”